10 



CUCURBITACE^E. IV. CUCUMIS. 



Rem. p. 300. Knight, finding that the leaves of melons sus- 

 tained great injury from the weight of the water falling from 

 the watering-pot, pours the water on the tiles which cover the 

 surface of the bed. See Training. 



Earthing. Perform this operation as directed for the cu- 

 cumber, after the heat of the dung has become moderate, earth- 

 ing up by degrees the intervals between the hills, till the depth 

 of tlie earth becomes equal. Eight or ten inches' depth of earth 

 M'Phail states- to be enough for the roots of the plants to run 

 in, provided the bed or fermenting mass beneath be made of 

 leaves of trees, or of dung well prepared ; for if the bed under 

 the earth be in a good state, the roots will grow into it, 

 and draw from thence considerable nourishment to the plants. 

 The roots of the melon do not naturally run deep, they extend 

 horizontally not far from the surface, especially in forcing frames, 

 where the moist warm air is more confined than in the open 

 atmosphere. Gard. Rem. p. 63. In early forcing, leave un- 

 filled up with earth a space of about 7 or 8 inches wide, against 

 the inside of the frames, immediately adjoining the hot linings. 

 " By this method the heat of the linings do more powerfully 

 warm the air in the frames, than if the earth was made level 

 home to the sides of the boards of the frames to which the 

 linings adjoin. But if melons be not planted earlier than the 

 month of May, this precaution need not be attended to, unless 

 the weather prove uncommonly cold, and but little sunshine." 



Training. As the plants advance into the first runners, 3 or 

 four joints in length, if no fruit be shown, stop them at the 

 third joint, in order that they may produce fruitful laterals ; 

 and as the runners extend, train them over the surface of the 

 bed with neat pegs. Many of these runners, as the plant pro- 

 ceeds, will show embryo fruit at the joints ; but a great many 

 barren ones are occasionally produced, and hence it becomes 

 necessary to regulate them. Abercrombie says, " cut out the 

 superabundant, unfruitful, or evidently useless shoots, especially 

 the very weak and most luxuriant, for the middle-sized are the. 

 most fertile." Nicol says, " melons should be kept moderately 

 thin of vines, though not so thin as cucumbers (the foliage 

 being smaller), which should never be much lopped at one time, 

 as they are also apt to bleed. All bruised, damped, or decayed 

 leaves should be carefully picked off as they appear, and the 

 plants should be kept clear from weeds, or any rubbish that 

 may be conveyed into the frames by wind or otherwise. 

 M'Phail directs to " cut out from the melon-frames all super- 

 fluous or decaying shoots. Stop shoots a joint or two before 

 the fruit, and also cut off the ends of the long running slioots 

 immediately before showing fruit, if there is a leading shoot 

 coming out by the side of it ; for you ought to remember always 

 in pruning melons, that a fruit will not swell well except there 

 be a growing shoot before it ; and this shoot, which is called a 

 leader, because it leads or draws the sap from the roots to and 

 past the fruit, should be stopped before a joint, that will, if 

 the plant is in good health, sprout out again. Do not let your 

 plants get too full of leaves, and cut off the oldest and worst 

 leaves first. - This ought to be done at least once or twice a 

 week, by which method they will be nearly always in a medium 

 state of thinness, and the plants and fruit will derive advantages 

 which they would be deprived of were they suffered to become 

 over-crowded with leaves and shoots, and then a great many 

 cut out at one time. If melons are of a large kind, no more 

 than one or two should be left on a plant to swell off at one 

 time ; if smaller three or four fruit may be left." Gard. Rem. 

 p. 278. Knight, in an ingenious and philosophical paper on 

 the culture of the melon, states " that his crops of melons 

 failed, because watering over the foliage, pruning, weeding, &c. 

 had removed the leaves, on the extended branches, from their 

 proper position, and these leaves, being heavy, broad, slender 



and feeble, on long footstalks, were never able to regain it. 

 In consequence, a large portion of that foliage which pre- 

 ceded or was formed at the same period with the blossoms, and 

 which nature intended to generate sap to feed the fruit, became 

 diseased and sickly, and consequently out of office, before the 

 fruit acquired maturity." To remedy this defect, the plants 

 were placed at greater distances from each other, viz. one plant 

 of the Salonica variety, to each light of 6 feet long by 4 feet 

 wide. The earth was covered with tiles, and the branches 

 trained in all directions, and hooked down over them with pegs. 

 They were thus secured from being disturbed from their first 

 position, the leaves were held erect, and at an equal distance 

 from the glass, and enabled, if slightly moved from their proper 

 position, to regain it. " I, however, still found that the leaves 

 sustained great injury from the weight of the water falling from 

 the watering-pot ; and I therefore ordered the water to be 

 poured from a vessel of a proper construction, upon the brick 

 tiles, between the leaves without at all touching them, and thus 

 managed, I had the pleasure to see that the foliage remained 

 erect and healthy. The fruit also grew with very extraordinary 

 rapidity, ripened in an unusually short time, and acquired a 

 degree of perfection which I had never previously seen. As 

 soon as a sufficient quantity of fruit, between 20 and 30 pounds 

 on each plant, is set, I would recommend the further produc- 

 tion of foliage to be prevented, by pinching off the lateral shoots 

 as soon as produced, wherever more foliage cannot be exposed 

 to the light. No part of the full grown leaves should ever be 

 destroyed ; however distant from the fruit and growing on a 

 distinct branch of the plant, they still contribute to its support ; 

 and hence it arises, that when a plant has as great a number of 

 growing fruit upon part of its branches, as it is capable of 

 feeding, the blossoms upon other branches,, which extend in an 

 opposite direction, prove abortive." Loud, encycl. gard. p. 618. 

 Setting. " As the fruit bearers come into blossom, you may- 

 assist the setting of the fruit, by impregnating some of the female 

 blossoms with the male flowers, as described for the cucumber. 

 The melon, however, will also set naturally, and produce fertile 

 seeds, if the time of fructification fall at a season when the 

 glasses can be left almost constantly open." Abercrombie. 

 Nicol says, " he has proved experimentally, that melons not 

 impregnated will not swell off so fair and handsome as im- 

 pregnated ones, and, therefore, considers it more necessary to 

 attend to this operation in melons than in cucumbers. There- 

 fore let nature be assisted in this work, considering that she is 

 more under restraint here than if the plants grew in the open 

 air, where the wind, insects, and other casualties, might be 

 helped." Kalend. p. 384. 



Care of fruit. " As the fruit increases to the size of a walnut, 

 place a flat tile or slate under each to protect it from the damp 

 of the earth ; the slab thus interposed will also assist the fruit 

 to ripen, by reflecting the rays of the sun." Abercrombie. 

 M'Phail says, " The fruit should lie upon dry tiles. When 

 the fruit is young, it is better to have a gentle shade of leaves, 

 but when it is full swelled, it should be entirely exposed to the 

 sun." Nicol advises placing the fruit on bits of slate or glass 

 some time before it begins to ripen, as the flavour might else 

 be tainted, but by no means slate or moss the whole surface of 

 the bed, lest you encourage the red spider. Think on the re- 

 flection of the sun upon the slates or tiles, in hot weather par- 

 ticularly, and of his additional force in shining through glass. 

 It is more consonant to the nature of the plants that they be 

 trained on the earth. By mossing the surface, the indolent may 

 find a pretext, as it no doubt, in some measure, lessens the 

 labour of watering. But it is wrong to do so, in so far as it har- 

 bours and encourages the breeding of various insects, and as the 

 fruit approaches to maturity, taints it with an unpleasant effluvia." 





